This invention relates to a turbine airfoil that includes high efficiency cooling holes in the leading edge. In a gas turbine engine, air is compressed in a compressor, mixed with fuel and ignited in a combustor for generating hot combustion gases which flow downstream through one or more stages of turbine nozzles and blades. The nozzles include stationary vanes followed in turn by a corresponding row of turbine rotor blades attached to the perimeter of a rotating disk. The vanes and blades have correspondingly configured airfoils which are hollow and include various cooling circuits and features which receive a portion of air bled from the compressor for providing cooling against the heat from the combustion gases.
The turbine vane and blade cooling art discloses various configurations for enhancing cooling and reducing the required amount of cooling air in order to increase the overall efficiency of the engine while obtaining a suitable useful life for the vanes and blades. For example, typical vane and blade airfoils in the high pressure turbine section of the engine include cooling holes that extend through the pressure side, or suction side, or both, for discharging a film of cooling air along the outer surface of the airfoil to effect film cooling in a conventional manner.
A typical film cooling hole is in the form of a cylindrical aperture inclined axially through one of the airfoil sides, such as the pressure side, for discharging the film air in the aft direction. The cooling holes are typically provided in a radial or spanwise row of holes at a specific pitch spacing. In this way, the cooling holes discharge a cooling film that forms an air blanket for protecting the outer surface, otherwise known as “lands” of the airfoil from hot combustion gases during operation.
In the region of the blade leading edge, it is also known to incline the cylindrical film cooling holes at an acute span angle to position the hole outlets radially above the hole inlets and discharge the cooling film radially outwardly from the respective holes. In order to improve the performance of cooling holes, it is also conventional to modify their shape to effect cooling flow diffusion. The diffusion reduces the discharge velocity and increases the static pressure of the airflow. Diffusion cooling holes are found in patented configurations for improving film cooling effectiveness with suitable blowing ratios and backflow margin. A typical diffusion film cooling hole may be conical from inlet to outlet with a suitable increasing area ratio for effecting diffusion without undesirable flow separation. Diffusion occurs in three axes, i.e. along the length of the hole and in two in-plane perpendicular orthogonal axes. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,075 to the present assignee.
Other types of diffusion cooling holes are also found in the prior art including various rectangular-shaped holes, and holes having one or more squared sides in order to provide varying performance characteristics. Like conical diffusion holes, the rectangular diffusion holes also effect diffusion in three dimensions as the cooling air flows therethrough and is discharged along the outer surface of the airfoil. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,283,199, 5,683,600 and 5,486,093.
As indicated above, the various diffusion cooling holes are typically arranged in rows extending along the span or radial axis of the airfoil, and are positioned as closely together as space permits for collectively discharging film cooling air. Since adequate spacing must be provided between the adjacent cooling holes for maintaining suitable strength, the discharge film cooling air does not provide 100% coverage along the span line of the corresponding row of holes.
A typical prior art hole pitch spacing is ten diameters of the circular hole inlet. In the example of the spanwise inclined cylindrical cooling holes described above, a typical span angle is about 30 degrees, with a 0.25 mm hole diameter. The effective coverage of the row of fan cooling holes may be defined by a coverage parameter represented by the span height of the cooling hole along the airfoil outer surface divided by the pitch spacing of adjacent holes. For an inclined cylindrical hole, the outer surface span height of the hole may be the diameter of the hole divided by the sine of the inclination angle. This results in a 20% coverage value for 30 degree inclined cylindrical holes at a ten diameter spacing.
This coverage is significantly improved by the use of conical diffusion holes. A typical prior art airfoil may have 0.25 mm circular inlets increasing in area to circular outlets having a diameter of about 0.46 mm, with the same centerline spanwise hole spacing or pitch of ten inlet diameters. The corresponding coverage value is 36%, which is an improvement over the simple cylindrical holes.
However, it is desired to further improve film cooling by more evenly diffusing the cooling film along the airfoil, particularly in the area of the leading edge.